Helmet suspension



Jan. 7, 1964 Filed April 11, 1962 T. ZBIKOWSKI HELMET SUSPENSION 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. TED ZBIKOWSKI BY GMIM'S MIEQ ATTORNEYS Jan. 7, 1964 'r. ZBIKOWSKI HELMET SUSPENSION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 11, 1962 M m o m B z D E T QMWS K ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,116,488 HELMET SUSIENSION Ted Zbikowski, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Joseph Buegeleisen C'o., Southfield, Mich. Filed Apr. 11, 1962, Ser. No. 186,780 2 Claims. (Cl. 2--3) This invention relates to a helmet suspension and more particularly, to a head supporting suspension for a safety helmet.

Safety helmets are conventionally formed of a hard outer shell and an inner head fitting suspension. Frequently, a padding means of some sort is used to pad the wearers head in the event of impact to the shell. Because the suspension must closely and comfortably fit the wearers head, headbands of various types are normally used which are adjustable in size along with other parts of the suspension.

It is an object of this invention, to provide a helmet suspension unit which combines the functions of properly fitting wearers head and padding the head, and which is inherently adjustable to the size of the wearers head without need for any adjustment means.

A further object of this invention is to provide a helmet suspension formed of a single unit made of a thick, resilient, padding material which inherently conforms to and stretches or compresses to properly fit the wearers head, and which is of extremely inexpensive and simplified construction so that it may be easily removed and replaced when necessary.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the following descrip tion, of which the attached drawings form a part.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational side view of the suspension and further shows the suspension positioned within a cross-sectionally illustrated helmet shell.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the helmet.

FIGS. 35 each illustrate one of the three parts which make up the suspension.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the suspension.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a fragment of the headband, the top strip, and shell, taken as if in the direction of arrows 77 of FIG. 2, and illustrates the adhesive connection between the parts.

The helmet herein is formed of a bowl-like shell 10 which is inverted to fit over the human head and which is formed of a thin wall, hard, rigid material, such as a fibrous glass reinforced resin. The free bottom edge of the shell is provided with a channeled edge beading 11, preferably formed of a resilient material such as rubber or the like.

The helmet suspension 12 is formed of three parts (see FIGS. 35), namely, a headband front part 13, a headband rear part 14, and a top strip 15. These parts are each formed of a thick, slab-like, resilient material such as thick foam rubber or a thick foamed rubber-like plastic which may be of a thickness in the order of approximately of an inch, for example.

The centers of the two headband forming parts 13 and 14 are each formed with a curved, upwardly opening notch 16, and slits 17 closely adjacent to the opposite sides of the notch, to form upwardly extending rounded tooth-like shapes 18. The opposite ends of the rear headband part 14 are cut into a curve-shape 19, thus forming a rear area shaped to protect the back and sides of the head.

The opposite ends 20 of the front part 13 are abutted in end to end relation with and adhesively secured to the opposite ends 21 of the rear part to form an endless band. Many suitable adhesives are available today for this pur- 3,115,488 Patented Jan. 7, 1964 pose, and the particular adhesive selected forms no part of this invention.

Each of the two headband forming parts are provided with holes of perforations 22 of purposes of circulation of air through the suspension.

The top strip is provided at its opposite ends with curved tongues 25 which conform to the shape of the notches 16 and are arranged, each to fit into one of the notches so that there is an end to end abutment of the ends of the strip 15 with the edges defining the notches 16. The tongues are secured to the notch edges by means of adhesives 25a. The top strip is also provided with holes 26. The three parts, when thus assembled, thus form a single unit which is resilient and compressible and stretchable 'so as to fit over and closely conform to the contours of the human head.

The suspension unit is fitted within the shell, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and is secured therein by means of adhesive 27 located on the tooth portions 18, the unit being otherwise free of securement to the shell and being spaced from the sides of the shell. FIG. 6 illustrates the locations of the adhesive 27 on the tooth portions 18.

A top cross-strap 30 is arranged in face to face contact with the top surface of top strip 15, thereby being spaced a considerable distance beneath the top of the shell. Its opposite ends are fastened by rivets 31 directly to the shell adjacent the area of tongues 25.

In addition, a transverse cross-strap 32 is arranged sideways over the top strip and is fastened at its opposite ends by rivets 33 directly to the shell.

In commercial use, the headband and shell combination is preferably made in two or three sizes, such as small and large, or small, medium and large, and within wide ranges each size will fit various size and shape human heads and will closely conform to the contours of the head to space the shell from the head and to pad the head in the event of impact to the shell.

With the suspension unit fastened to the shell only at the front and rear thereof, and independent of the crossstraps which are permanently fastened to the shell, the suspension unit may be easily removed simply by tearing it out of the shell and replaced with a new unit should the original unit become dirty, or damaged in anyway. This feature, is particularly significant where the helmets are used as industrial protective helmets and where from time to time it is desirable to provide clean and new suspension units.

In cases of impact to the shell, the wearers head normally moves upwards relative to the shell thereby causing the center portion of the strap 30 to approach the top of the shell and hence, bias the strip 15 tightly against the wearers head, particularly at the front and rear of the head, to distribute the load along a wide and spreadout area of the skull and prevent the application of undue localized forces to the head.

This invention may be further developed within the scope of the following attached claims. Accordingly, it is desired that the foregoing description be read as being merely illustrative of an operative embodiment of this invention and not in a strictly limiting sense.

I now claim:

1. A safety helmet comprising an inverted, bowl-like, rigid, outer shell having an open bottom and a front end and a rear end, and a helmet suspension including an endless headband, formed of a thick, wide strip of resilient material, arranged within the shell and extending about one-half of the height of the shell from the open bottom towards the top of the shell; the top edge portions of the headband, adjacent the front end and adjacent the rear end of the shell, each being provided with a deep, cut-out, notch and a slit formed in the top edge of the headband adjacent each side of each notch, the slits each extending a short distance towards the bottom edge of the headband to form two pair of narrow tooth portions, each tooth portion being defined by an edge of its respective notch and one slit; a wide, top strip having opposite end parts formed as tongues of a size and shape complimentary to said notches, with each tongue being close- 1y fitted into one of the notches and with the edges defining the tongues being adhesively secured to the edges defining the respective notches, and the top strip extending over the top of the headband, within the shell, from the front to the rear ends thereof; each of said tooth portions being adhesively secured to their adjacent shell wall portions; the headband and top strip being otherwise free of securement to the shell; the headband and top strip being spaced from the shell wall except at the front and rear ends thereof and the suspension being resiliently stretchable and compressible and thereby adapted to closely fit the head of the wearer of the helmet.

2. A construction as defined in claim 1 and including a thin, narrow, flexible, cross-strap arranged within the References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,046 Dye May 25, 1954 2,706,294 Sprinkle Apr. 19, 1955 2,717,384 Frothingham Sept. 13, 1955 2,739,309 Frieder et a1. Mar. 27, 1956 2,763,005 Richter Sept. 18, 1956 2,802,212 Finken Aug. 13, 1957 2,983,923 Aileo May 16, 1961 3,015,103 Zbikowski Ian. 2, 1962 3,055,013 Aileo Sept. 25, 1962 

1. A SAFETY HELMET COMPRISING AN INVERTED, BOWL-LIKE, RIGID, OUTER SHELL HAVING AN OPEN BOTTOM AND A FRONT END AND A REAR END, AND A HELMET SUSPENSION INCLUDED AN ENDLESS HEADBAND, FORMED OF A THICK, WIDE STRIP OF RESILIENT MATERIAL, ARRANGED WITHIN THE SHELL AND EXTENDING ABOUT ONE-HALF OF THE HEIGHT OF THE SHELL FROM THE OPEN BOTTOM TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE SHELL; THE TOP EDGE PORTIOS OF THE HEADBAND, ADJACENT THE FRONT END AND ADJACENT THE REAR END OF THE SHELL, EACH BEING PROVIDED WITH A DEEP, CUT-OUT NOTCH AND SLIT FORMED IN THE TOP EDGE OF THE HEADBAND ADJACENT EACH SIDE OF EACH NOTCH, THE SLITS EACH EXTENDING A SHORT DISTANCE TOWARDS THE BOTTOM EDGE OF THE HEADBAND TO FORM TWO PAIR OF NARROW TOOTH PORTIONS, EACH TOOTH PORTION BEING DEFINED BY AND EDGE OF ITS RESPECTIVE NOTCH AND ONE SLIT; A WIDE, TOP STRIP HAVING OPPOSITE END PARTS FORMED AS TONGUES OF A SIZE AND SHAPE COMPLEMENTARY TO SAID NOTCHES, WITH EACH TONGUE BEING CLOSELY FITTED INTO ONE OF THE NOTCHES AND WITH THE EDGES DEFINING THE RESPECTIVE NOTCHES, AND THE TOP STRIP EXTENDING OVER THE TOP OF THE HEADBAND, WITHIN THE SHELL FROM THE FRONT TO THE REAR ENDS THEREOF; EACH OF SAID TOOTH PORTIONS BEING ADHESIVELY SECURED TO THEIR ADJACENT SHELL WALL PORTIONS; THE HEADBAND AND TOP STRIP BEING OTHERWISE FREE OF SECUREMENT TO THE SHELL; THE HEADBAND AND TOP STRIP BEING SPACED FROM THE SHELL WALL EXCEPT AT THE FRONT AND REAR ENDS THEREOF AND THE SUSPENSION BEING RESILIENTLY STRECHABLE AND COMPRESSIBLE AND THEREBY ADAPTED TO CLOSELY FIT THE HEAD OF THE WEARER OF THE HELMET. 